The rapid increase in the market value of precious metals such as gold has inspired a renewed interest on the part of the public in prospecting for gold throughout well known gold mining areas. As a result of this renewed interest, an increasing number of individuals are combing traditional gold bearing terrain such as dried up stream beds, mountainous areas, rocky terrain and the like using hand tools such as picks, pans, shovels, etc. The expected and proven theory is that particles of gold can be found mixed with granular material such as sand, gravel so that such gold bearing sand and gravel is collected by individuals for subsequent recovery of the gold particles therefrom.
With the use of such simple tools, it is obvious that the collection of gold bearing particulate material is a laborious and time consuming operation. The recovery and collection of such gold bearing particulate material becomes even more prolonged and difficult where such particulate material is removed from rock crevices a favorite location for the recovery of such material. Not only must such material be loosened from such relatively narrow crevices but the difficulty of collecting such removed material is a vexing and frustrating experience.